Whether you know it or not, you do have a CFO (Chief Financial Officer)! Someone, perhaps yourself, your accountant, bookkeeper, secretary, spouse, or office manager acts as your Chief Financial Officer. So, the question isn’t really whether or not you have a CFO (I would argue that every business does), but rather is your CFO is any good at their job or not!? Are they even qualified to be CFO?
The number of business owners I meet who tell me this does not matter is frightening! And almost certainly, the ones who say this are in financial trouble. Here are a few examples of what I’ve heard:
“I don’t have a bank asking me for financial reports, so they’re not important” . . . this company had already been through corporate bankruptcy and the owner was now facing personal bankruptcy.
“My secretary enters all of the bills in QuickBooks and we just write the checks”
. . . nothing wrong with that, if the person entering the bills knows what they are doing! QuickBooks is a fine program, but if the person entering the bills puts them to the wrong account or confuses assets with expenses (I have seen this done countless times) then how in the world would anyone know what income is at the end of the month?
“We don’t worry about interest or depreciation every month, we let our tax accountant do that at the end of the year” . . . I have seen businesses book a “profit” every month only to see interest and depreciation booked by the accountant in December wipe it all out and result in a loss for the year! Don’t let any tax accountant convince you that a depreciation loss is good as it lowers your tax liability unless you also understand that you won’t have enough money to invest in new capital equipment when your current stuff wears out!
“We don’t look at it that way” . . . yes, I’ve actually been told by business owners that they have a better way than proven, age-old financial practices. Show me a business-owner who says this and chances are they are losing money (and don’t even know it).
“I don’t like to look at that stuff” . . . really, well, Mr. Business Owner, that “stuff” is your money (or it was before your employees wrote themselves checks that you didn’t know about). Perhaps you should have paid a bit more attention, even though it’s not your favorite thing to do!
Do any of these sound familiar? Is that really where you want to be? There is a better way. Who’s Your CFO?
If you need help with your business, financial plans, or goal setting, please give me a call at (314) 863-6637 or send an email to And, remember . . . Your Cash Is Flowing. Know Where.
Copyright @ 2007 Homza Consulting, Inc.